Medicaid? Don’t Get Me Started

If you want to see a disabled person get all riled up, ask them how they feel about Medicaid. It can be quite entertaining.

They’ll probably start by complaining about how incredibly chintzy Medicaid is. Suppose you need a piece of essential equipment, like a wheelchair. Medicaid tries to get away with buying you the cheapest one out there, like the wheelchairs they sell at Walgreens that are folded up in a box that says “Wheelchair” on it. They cost about $50 and they’re about as sturdy and durable as a lawn chair.

If you need a motorized wheelchair, Medicaid will probably only approve the purchase of a chair that’s so cheap it’s hamster powered. If you need a better wheelchair than that, you have to fight Medicaid like a badger to get it. They make you jump through a bunch of flaming bureaucratic hoops and they’ll deny your claim a thousand times before finally giving in—maybe.

Suppose that wheelchair breaks and you need Medicaid to pay for the repair. Again they’ll deny your claim a thousand times. They’ll justify it by saying something like, having a wheelchair that actually works is “not medically necessary.” If your hamster dies from exhaustion, Medicaid may not pay to replace it if you’ve reached your annual cap of four hamsters. You’ll have to appeal all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court and God before Medicaid finally gives in—maybe.

And in order to remain eligible for Medicaid, you have to stay flat broke for the rest of your life and beyond. You can't have more than $2,000 in the bank. Any assets that you do manage to accumulate can be seized by the government after you die to pay back Medicaid.

The only way to get disabled people more riled up is to ask them how they feel about having their Medicaid taken away.

Disabled people who rely on Medicaid will rant about all this and more. The only way to get them more riled up is to ask them how they feel about having their Medicaid taken away.

That’s when you’ll really get an earful. “HELL NO!” will be the first thing you hear. Medicaid is what gives them a fighting chance in the pursuit of happiness. Who else is going to cover the cost of all the expensive stuff that comes with the territory of being disabled? Charities? No thank you. If charities could do the job, we wouldn’t have needed Medicaid in the first place.

Dealing with Medicaid may be degrading sometimes, but it’s not as degrading as dealing with charities. Charity cases aren’t entitled to anything. They have to compete with all the other beggars for whatever scraps the charity tosses their way. They have to play the role of the eternally grateful Tiny Tim.

For millions of disabled Americans, Medicaid is like our obnoxious but lovable uncle. We bitch about how irritating he is, but we defend him fiercely because he’s ours, dammit. Don’t you dare badmouth him. Only we can do that.